Chapter 5
Gender, the Economy and Work
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Family Based Economies–
(Colonial Period – Industrial Revolution).
Household is basic unit of economy
• 1) Native American Societies
• STRUCTURE – rules and laws that govern
relationships
– Government – informal; many were made up of both
men and women. Shared power. Made policies about
mobility, warfare, food….
– Economy – Informal. Gender DOL. Women maintained
90% of subsistence and controlled production.
Berdasche, third Genders.
– Families – Communal families. Longhouses had families
living and caring for each other.
Family Based Economies–
(Colonial Period – Industrial Revolution).
Household is basic unit of economy
• 1) African American Societies
• STRUCTURE – rules and laws that govern
relationships.
• Government – Were not allowed to have
governments. Indeed, controlled by European
Immigrants.
• Economy – Slavery governed who would work and
where and when. Gendered DOL was disrupted
by Slavery and so slaves tried to preserve this as
an act of resistance.
• Families – Torn apart by Slavery; Communal in
structure.
Family Based Economies–
(Colonial Period – Industrial Revolution).
Household is basic unit of economy
• 1) European Immigrants
• STRUCTURE – rules and laws that govern
relationships.
• Government – Slavery and Manifest Destiny. Only
white propertied men allowed citizenship.
• Economy – Farming. Gendered DOL; all labor
seen as productive but very clear gendered lines.
• Families – Nuclear; Gendered Dichotomy
Family Based Economies–
(Colonial Period – Industrial Revolution).
Household is basic unit of economy
• Ideology – Ideas, beliefs and values
that help organize a society.
• Even though each group had its own ideology, the one
that controlled the entire country was the ideology of
European Immigrants because they had the force.
• Ideologies helped justify slavery, male rule and
annihilation of Native Americans:
• PATRIARCHY; MEN MORE MORAL; RACISM;
MANIFEST DESTINY
Family Wage Economies–
(Industrialization -1970s)
Families depend on wages outside household
• STRUCTURE
• Government –
– Legal Segregation and Discrimination
(protective legislation and unequal wages and
mobility); Government sanctioned riots
against African Americans. Laws favoring
businesses rather than workers.
– Also, all people allowed citizenry and the right
to vote.
Family Wage Economies–Cont..
– Economy
• White men are given higher wages, more mobility.
Workplace organized around the public/private
split. Race is used to create Divide and Conquer.
Women of color prevented from working in formal
sector.
– Families – All families are forced into nuclear
structure: AA families are separated.
Everyone affected by segregation.
Family Wage Economies–Cont
• IDEOLOGIES –
– Patriarchy (devaluing work in home and cult
of true womanhood for white MC woman);
Essentialism links everything to biology; White
Women are now moral overseers; Racism
prevents Women of Color from being True
Women and from All People of Color from
being seen as equal.
Family Consumer Economies –
(1970s-present)
The well-being of our economy is structured around consuming.
Everyone must work for pay.
• STRUCTURE
– Government
– 1964 Civil Rights Act (Title VII)
– 1963 Equal Pay Act
– Title IX
– Favors business over workers. Favors paid
work over non-paid work.
Family Consumer Economies,
CONT….
• STRUCTURE
– Economy – Male as Norm; P/P split, Racism;
Imperialism.
– Family – Segregation and Everyone must work for
Pay.
• IDEOLOGY: Patriarchy, Devaluation of Women
and Emotional Labor, Individualism, Imperialism;
Leisure and Image important!
Issues for Women at Paid Work
• 1) Ideologies and Family Structure lead to:
– Unequal household division of labor (second shift)
– Devaluation of Labor done by women in the home and outside
the home (household work seen as unnecessary).
• What work is done in the home? Why don’t we recognize it as
work?
• 2) Ideologies, Family Structure and Work Structure lead
to:
– Pay Gap (74%-- look at table) and Promotion Gap (glass ceiling
and sticky floor)
Issues for Women at Paid Work
• More Detailed Theories for Hiring Gap, PAY
GAP and PROMOTION GAP.
• Gender/Race Identity formation theories
• Job Sex Segregation
• Gender/race typing
• Human Capital Theory
• Networking – Homosocial Reproduction,
Tokenism and Informal Workplace Cultures
• Comparable Worth Discrimination
• Discrimination ---- ex. Sexual Harassment
Issue for Women at Paid Work
• SOLUTIONS
•
•
•
•
1) Comparable Worth
2) FMLA
3) Laws
4) Affirmative Action